The function of the Recruiting Committee is to tell the
story of the USSS to non-members,
with the specific goal of
promoting membership in the USSS, and the general goal of
promoting United States philately.
Every month a packet of information about the USSS is sent
to new members of the APS who have indicated a primary
interest in U.S. collecting. During 2005 an average of 66
packets were mailed monthly. Anyone who would like a supply
of USSS applications is urged to contact me.
The Recruiting Committee has also sought educational
vehicles to promote U.S. collecting. Until March, 2006 a
copy of A Glossary
of Terms for Collectors of United States
Stamps was sent to each new member. This practice has been
discontinued since the glossary is both maintained on the
Society website,
and is an appendix to the Encyclopedia of
United States Stamps and Stamp Collecting. It is our hope
that the Encyclopedia will be a significant tool both in the
recruiting of new members and in the promotion of the hobby.
We have had some preliminary conversations with the new
Indexer to consider cooperative efforts by which the wealth
of material in The Specialist might be made more easily
identified by, and accessible to, members of the Society.
There are intentions to continue those conversations. Any
ideas on how to accomplish these goals can be directed to
the Indexer, Lynn Batdorf.
It's a great hobby. Have fun with it. Don't take yourself
too seriously, but do take seriously the opportunities you
have to share the hobby with others! Enjoy.
The Recruiting Committee invites collectors to join the
Society. The primary method of invitation is sending
information about the Society to new members of the APS who
indicate an interest in U.S. collecting. In the year ended
April 1, 2005, invitations were sent to 795 new APS members. The
Committee also sends copies of A
Glossary of Terms for
the Collector of United States Stamps to new members of the
Society.
We are eagerly looking forward to the release of the
Encyclopedia of United States
Stamp Collecting next May at
Washington, 2006. We anticipate that this book will be a
valuable recruitment tool.
The recruiting committee continues to maintain and expand the
Glossary of Terms
for Collectors of United States Stamps. This glossary is given as a gift to new
members, is available for $2 to current members, and can be accessed on our web
site at no charge. We anticipate a revised hard copy edition to be ready
sometime in early 2005.
We are currently working on the forthcoming Encyclopedia
of United States Stamp
Collecting, which is being serialized in The Specialist, and which will be
released in book form at Washington 2006. The
target audience is the novice
collector and the specialist who wishes to expand his or her field(s) of
interest.
As an experiment we have recently begun offering the Durland catalog for sale on
Amazon.com and have had some modest sales success.
In January, 2003 the Committee published A Glossary of Terms for the
Collector of United States Stamps. A revised edition was released at
StampShow 2003 in August. We anticipate annual revisions going
forward. The Glossary is also available on the USSS website. The help
of the membership is solicited in making corrections and/or additions to
the Glossary. The Glossary is a premium given to new members. It is
available to existing members for $2 and to non-members for $5. During
the first eight months of 2003 we have supplied the Glossary to 95 new
members, sold 14 to existing members, and 29 to non-members. Fifty
copies have been supplied to other recruiters for their use.
The Committee sends a mailing each month to new APS members who have
indicated U.S. collecting as their primary area of interest. The
mailing consists of an introductory letter, a membership brochure and a
list of currently available literature. During the past 12 months these
mailings have gone out to exactly 800 persons, with the number of
monthly mailings ranging from a high of 108 to a low to 35.
With the help of other USSS members we endeavor to have a recruiting
presence at major stamp shows. We are working to publicize our
forthcoming Encyclopedia of United States Stamp Collecting and use it
as a recruiting tool.
Non-members who purchase the Glossary will receive a coupon good for $3 off a new
one-year membership in the Society. The direct link to the
glossary is
http://glossary.usstamps.org/
Anyone who is interested in joining the Recruiting
Committee and its work of promoting our society is invited to contact
Rod Juell at either the postal or e-mail address above.
Growing the USSS
You can help our society grow! You can help our hobby grow! You can
help make both our society and our hobby better! Here are some things you can do:
Invite a fellow collector to join the USSS. Applications can be
downloaded from the USSS web-site (www.usstamps.org). I can also send
you some informational folders with applications attached if you write
or e-mail me. (A SASE would be appreciated but is not required.)
Include a USSS informational folder with any of your philatelic
correspondence with non-members.
If you sell on e-bay, or any other auction site, include a good word
about USSS, and reference the web-site (http://www.usstamps.org).
If you belong to a stamp club that holds a show, provide a table for
USSS recruiting, or at least make some informational folders and
applications available.
